Local Bonding Future Unknown after Package Fails at State Legislature

Well it is back to the drawing board – even as a Sunday Deadline looms – after an 825-million-dollar bonding bill for state public works projects failed in the Minnesota Senate yesterday.

Our Capitol Correspondent, Bill Werner, reports all Democrats voted “no” because they say the dollar amount is too small: Senate Minorty Leader Tom Bakk, “There were about 3.5 billion dollars of requests for this bill, and to think that you can winnow it down to 835 million, this dog’s not gonna hunt.”

Bakk says they’ll work on a bill that can pass the Senate by Sunday’s adjournment deadline.

Republican Senator Dave Senjem from Rochester, “I don’t know. Perhaps we can inkle it up a little bit. When you cross-match our bill, 825 (million) with one at about 1.5 billion, then we’re not even close. If that’s what they want, we might as well go home.”

The City of Thief River Falls had one and a half million for Flood Damage Reduction in the Senate Measure. That allocation was not included in the House Measure even as renewed negotiations begin in St. Paul.

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